| better | Compar. Of Good. [OE. Betere, bettre, and as adv. Bet, AS. Betera, adj, and bet, adv.; akin to Icel. Betri, adj, betr, adv, Goth. Batiza, adj, OHG. Bezziro, adj, baz, adv, G. Besser, adj. And adv, bass, adv, E. Boot, and prob. To Skr. Bhadra excellent. See Boot advantage, and cf. Best, Batful. 1. Having good qualities in a greater degree than another; as, a better man; a better physician; a better house; a better air. "Could make the worse appear The better reason." (Milton) 2. Preferable in regard to rank, value, use, fitness, acceptableness, safety, or in any other respect. "To obey is better than sacrifice." (1 Sam. Xv. 22) "It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes." (Ps. Cxviii. 9) 3. Greater in amount; larger; more. 4. Improved in health; less affected with disease; as, the patient is better. 5. More advanced; more perfect; as, upon better acquaintance; a better knowledge of the subject. All the better. See All, Better half, an expression used to designate one's wife. "My dear, my better half (said he), I find I must now leave thee." (Sir P. Sidney) To be better off, to be in a better condition. Had better. (See Had). The phrase had better, followed by an infinitive without to, is idiomatic. The earliest form of construction was "were better" with a dative; as, "Him were better go beside." i. E, It would be better for him, etc. at length the nominative (I, he, they, etc) supplanted the dative and had took the place of were. Thus we have the construction now used. "By all that's holy, he had better starve Than but once think this place becomes thee not." (Shak) 1. To improve or ameliorate; to increase the good qualities of. "Love betters what is best." (Wordsworth) "He thought to better his circumstances." (Thackeray) 2. To improve the condition of, morally, physically, financially, socially, or otherwise. "The constant effort of every man to better himself." (Macaulay) 3. To surpass in excellence; to exceed; to excel. "The works of nature do always aim at that which can not be bettered." (Hooker) 4. To give advantage to; to support; to advance the interest of. "Weapons more violent, when next we meet, May serve to better us and worse our foes." (Milton) Synonym: To improve, meliorate, ameliorate, mend, amend, correct, emend, reform, advance, promote. Origin: AS. Beterian, betrian, fr. Betera better. See Better. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| Kew Gardens fever | An alternative term for rickettsialpox. Origin: Kew Gardens, area in Queens, NYC, where first reported (05 Mar 2000) |
| group homes | Housing for groups of patients, children, or others who need or desire emotional or physical support. They are usually established as planned, single housekeeping units in residential dwellings that provide care and supervision for small groups of residents, who, although unrelated, live together as a family. (12 Dec 1998) |
| homes for the aged | Geriatric long-term care facilities which provide supervision and assistance in activities of daily living with medical and nursing services when required. (12 Dec 1998) |
| nursing homes | Facilities which provide nursing supervision and limited medical care to persons who do not require hospitalization. (12 Dec 1998) |
| abstracting and indexing | Shortening or summarizing of documents; assigning of descriptors for referencing documents. (12 Dec 1998) |
| academies and institutes | Organizations representing specialised fields which are accepted as authoritative; may be non-governmental, university or an independent research organization, e.g., national academy of sciences, brookings institution, etc. (12 Dec 1998) |
| accounts payable and receivable | Short-term debt obligations and assets occurring in the regular course of operational transactions. (12 Dec 1998) |
| aged, 80 and over | A person 80 years of age and older. (12 Dec 1998) |
| algae and fungi | Algae represent a group of spore-propagating plants, unicellular or undifferentiated into root, stem, and leaf. They include seaweed and many unicellular fresh water plants, most of which contain chlorophyll. They account for about 90% of the earth's photosynthetic activity. Fungi are eukaryotic, heterotrophic organisms that live as saprobes or parasites and include mushrooms, yeasts, smuts, molds, etc. They lack chlorophyll. (12 Dec 1998) |
| alkyl and aryl transferases | <enzyme> A somewhat heterogeneous class of enzymes that catalyze the transfer of alkyl or related groups (excluding methyl groups). Registry number: EC 2.5 (12 Dec 1998) |
| allergy and immunology | A medical specialty concerned with the hypersensitivity of the individual to foreign substances and protection from the resultant infection or disorder. (12 Dec 1998) |
| alligators and crocodiles | Large, long-tailed reptiles, including caimans, of the order loricata. (12 Dec 1998) |
| Amine Precursor Uptake and Decarboxylation | <pharmacology, physiology> Paracrine cells of which argentaffin cells are an example. Usage of the term APUD is neither helpful nor memorable. Acronym: APUD (11 Nov 1997) |
| amino acids, peptides, and proteins | Amino acids and chains of amino acids connected by peptide linkages. (12 Dec 1998) |